Chess contest head denies involvement in dress controversy

GOMBAK: The director of the National Scholastic Chess Championships 2017 tournament has denied being involved in an incident that led to the withdrawal of a 12-year-old player over an alleged “improper” dressing issue.

Sophian A. Yusof claimed he was a victim of slander, as he was never involved in the discussions over the issue that led to the player’s withdrawal from the tournament.

He also claimed that after the issue went viral and was reported by the media, he received death threats.

He has since lodged a report with the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission over the Facebook post.

“I have not even met the girl,” he said yesterday, referring to the posting alleging he deemed the girl’s knee-length dress “a temptation from a certain angle, far, far away”.

Sophian, who is also The Malaysian Chess Federation assistant secretary, said he was only informed of the situation by the arbiters during their nightly reports on April 14.

He said, according to the report, four arbiters, including their chief, agreed the girl’s dress was too short when in a sitting position.

They first noticed the girl’s dress was not suitable for the competition during round one of the game.

After her game ended at about 7.45pm, a female assistant arbiter was instructed to advise the girl to change into a more appropriate outfit for round two.

He said his team took great care to consult a Chinese arbiter and a female arbiter to ensure no sensitivities were offended.

However, he said, the girl remained in the same outfit for round two, prompting the chief arbiter to intervene.

He said the next morning he was surprised to learn that the player had withdrawn from the tournament, since she was never threatened with disciplinary action.

Sophian is waiting for the chief arbiter, currently overseas, to provide a full report on the matter.